During the lifetime of a patient, it may be necessary to perform a joint replacement procedure on the patient as a result of, for example, disease or trauma. The joint replacement procedure may involve the use of a prosthesis which is implanted into one or more of the patient's bones. In the case of a patella replacement procedure, a orthopaedic prosthesis is implanted into the patient's patella. Specifically, a prosthetic patella component is secured to the patient's natural patella such that its posterior surface articulates with a femoral component during extension and flexion of the knee.
A conventional dome patella component is embodied as a dome-shaped polymer bearing having a spherical dome profile. As such, changing the thickness of the component requires a change in the size of the component (i.e., the component's outer diameter). In other words, the thickness and size of the component are geometrically dependent on one another. For example, the minimum thickness of certain prior art 41 mm dome patella components is ˜11.4 mm. This may be too thick for a given surgical application. However, a reduction in thickness would also require a reduction in component size (i.e., the component's outer diameter). Such dimensional dependency can create challenges in regard to the surgical correction of patellafemoral gap imbalances.